Social Studies
Social Studies Graduation Requirement (3 Credits)
915144—20th Century Military History
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 10, 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2
This semester course will focus on the major events, themes, and evolution of military institutions, defense goals, and policies during the course of the 20th Century. Students will analyze and research key battles, tactics, strategies, technologies, and military leaders from both of the World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War. Lessons learned during these wars, their aftermath, and the peacetime of the interwar periods of this century will help students draw conclusions about the use of military might and intervention as an effective tool of foreign policy and determine if war is ultimately futile.
915659—Advanced Placement (AP) Government
Prerequisite: Teacher recommendation, “B” or better in most recent Social Studies class
Grade Placement: 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 year
Credit: 1/2 per semester (Honors)
Advanced Government is an in-depth analysis of U.S. citizenship and political responsibility; individual/ personal freedoms; principles and history of government; local, state and federal levels of government; the three branches of government; political parties and special interest groups; and propaganda. Students will participate in simulations and debates, and apply their learning to current events and American History. Students are required to complete the government end of course exam following successful completion of the course. This course satisfies the state requirement for a government/civics course, provided the student passes U.S. Constitution and Missouri Constitution exams. This is a state assessment (EOC) course.
915603—Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History
Prerequisite: “B” or better in most recent Social Studies class; teacher recommendation; 3.0 GPA
Grade Placement: 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 year
Credit: 1/2 per semester (Honors)
AP United States History focuses on developing students’ abilities to think conceptually about U.S. history from approximately 1491 to the present and apply historical thinking skills as they learn about the past. Seven themes of equal importance — identity; peopling; politics and power; work, exchange, and technology; America in the world; environment and geography; and ideas, beliefs, and culture — provide areas of historical inquiry for investigation throughout the course. These require students to reason historically about continuity and change over time and make comparisons among various historical developments in different times and places.
915066—Advanced Placement (AP) World History
Prerequisite: “B” or better in most recent Social Studies class; teacher recommendation; 3.0 GPA
Grade Placement: 10, 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 year
Credit: 1/2 per semester (Honors)
The AP World History course focuses on developing students' understanding of world history from approximately 8000 B.C.E. to the present. The course has students investigate the content of world history for significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in six historical periods, and develop and use the same thinking skills and methods (analyzing primary and secondary sources, making historical comparisons, chronological reasoning, and argumentation) employed by historians when they study the past. The course also provides five themes (interaction between humans and the environment; development and interaction of cultures; state building, expansion, and conflict; creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems; and development and transformation of social structures) that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places encompassing the five major geographical regions of the globe: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.
915064—Honors U.S. History 9
Prerequisite: Teacher recommendation, “B” or better in most recent Social Studies class
Grade Placement: 9
Length of Course: 1 year
Credit: 1/2 per semester (Honors)
Advanced American History 9 can be taken as an alternative to US History 9. This course will satisfy the US History social studies 9 graduation requirement. This pre-AP honors class will focus on the political, economic, social, geographic, and technological developments of US History from Reconstruction through present day. Students will study important people and events that had a major impact on our country. As a course designed to prepare students for AP/college level social studies classes, critical thinking and writing skills, historical thinking habits, strategies, and themes will be heavily emphasized. Students should be self-motivated, accept responsibility for their learning and their behavior, be willing and able to work independently and in groups, and have a desire to improve their historical understanding and their thinking and writing skills. This course uses a variety of materials including primary documents, scholarly articles, historiography, films, and occasionally a textbook.
915124—African American History
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 10, 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2
This course in African American History explores this dynamic topic from points of origin in Africa all the way through to modern day. Emphasis will be placed on understanding key events and various African Americans significant to the African American experience.
915294—Civil War Military History
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 10, 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2
This semester course will have students journey back to the 19th Century to focus on the history of America’s bloodiest war, where over 620,000 men lost their lives fighting for their respective causes. Emphasis of study will be placed on what led America to civil war in 1861, technological advancements used in fighting the war, strategies and tactics employed by the Federal and Confederate armies, and a study in military leadership from the great generals like Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Jackson. Students will analyze battle maps, troop maneuvers, historic blunders, and glorious triumphs of several of the Civil War’s greatest battles and how the country was eventually preserved after four long years of grueling war.
915669—Crimes Against Humanity
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2
This course is designed to examine the concept and development of social justice, as well as its enforcement. Students will investigate the violation of human rights doctrines through crimes against peace, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The course will look at historical examples, as well as current public policy issues impacting international criminal justice and world peace. Students should be able to use critical thinking, factual inquiry, and the scientific approach to solve problems. Upon completion of this course students should develop and understanding of legal, political and policy making processes that affect international criminal justice in various jurisdictions.
915184—Gender Studies
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 11,12
Length of Course: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2
This course explores the core concepts underlying the interdisciplinary field of Women's Studies, introducing the ways in which the study of women and sex/gender as social categories transforms our understanding of culture, history and society. Topics include the social construction of gender, the gender division of labor, production and reproduction, intersections of gender, race, class, and ethnicity, and the varieties of sexual experience. Students will analyze historical accounts and current issues from a historical perspective with respect to the combined effects of gender, race and class on the status of women and other genders in contemporary society. The course will include the study of the problems inherent in establishing full social equality for women and other marginalized genders.
915665-Global Majority Studies
Prerequisite: U.S History 9
Grade Placement: 11,12 (10 with teacher recommendation)
Length of Course: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2
The Global Majority Studies course will advance social thinking by providing students with opportunities to examine and analyze social justice concepts and issues within their historical context as well as help students develop an action plan to bring positive and equitable impact to their community. This course will give students a more complete and necessary understanding of U.S. History, injustices, and solutions to social issues, including social movements while providing students with a framework for reflecting on their own personal experiences.
915054—Government
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 year
Credit: 1/2 per semester
Government focuses on U.S. citizenship and political responsibility; individual/personal freedoms; principles and history of government; local, state, and federal levels of government; the three branches of government; political parties and special interest groups; and propaganda. Students are required to complete the Government end of course exam following successful completion of this course. This course satisfies the state requirement for a government/civics course, provided the student passes U.S. Constitution and Missouri Constitution exams. This is a state assessment (EOC) course.
915670—History’s Mysteries and Conspiracies
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2
This dynamic semester course is designed to get students thinking like history detectives as they gather, analyze, and interpret historical evidence of events from the past from American and World history. Students will take the evidence that is presented and researched to create their own hypotheses from their findings and draw their own conclusions about the historical event. Part history, part literature, and a little bit of drama, this course allows students to utilize critical-thinking and problem-solving skills through discovery and “solve” the mysteries and conspiracies from the past.
915668—Latin American History
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 10, 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2
This course examines the discovery and colonization of Spanish-speaking Latin America. It follows the rise of nation states in Central and South America from Mexico to Chile and Argentina. The course emphasizes the political, social, and cultural changes that Latin American countries have gone through to become modern nations in the last 500 years. The course also examines how Latin American people have attempted to understand themselves and their civilization. Students will review key people including leaders, average citizens, authors, musicians, invaders, and the like. Students will be encouraged to contextualize this knowledge in the setting of the present realities of the Latin American people, as they try to answer the question where do they (we) go from here?
915900—Law and American Society
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 10, 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2
Law and legal philosophy are viewed through the lenses of history, virtue, and culture, resulting in many definitions of law. For the purposes of this course, law is defined as the rules made and enforced by government that regulate the conduct of people within a society. Articles will be assigned covering topics such as laws and order, morals and values, human rights, balancing rights with responsibilities, and the U.S. Constitution. In this course, students will be gaining valuable mastery of the U.S. Constitution, the functions of the U.S. system of government, and an emphasis on precedent set by U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
915164—Philosophy
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 10, 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2
Philosophy will examine the origins of Western philosophy and how it has evolved starting from Ancient Greece through the early 20th Century. Students will gain a better understanding of how man has sought to answer questions regarding human nature, government, and their surroundings, as well as forming their own ways of thinking about the world around them. Students will learn how people of the past worked to create meaning in their lives.
915304—Psychology
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 10, 11, 12
Length of Course: 1 semester
Credit: 1/2
Psychology is the systematic scientific study of individual human behavior and experience. The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to the content, terminology, methodology, and application of the discipline. Topics include human development, personality, abnormal psychology, clinical intervention, and social psychology. Other topics may include psychological assessment, cross-cultural psychology, and psychological adjustment. This survey course contains an introduction followed by various units based on the physiological, cognitive, behavioral, and affective domains of psychology. This elective course stresses the application of academic content to the student’s life.
915100—U.S. History 9
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 9
Length of Course: 1 year
Credit: 1/2 per semester
This is a course that traces U.S. History from 1865 and the Reconstruction Era to the present. The course focuses on those events, themes, forces, and personalities that have helped shape America. During the course of study, emphasis will be placed on the student acquiring and demonstrating greater skills in the areas of government, economics, geography, history, human development, and other related social studies skills.
905065—World History
Prerequisite: None
Grade Placement: 10
Length of Course: 1 year
Credit: 1/2 per semester
Students in World History will focus their studies on the events, forces, and personalities that have played a role in shaping today’s world, studying the span of history from the ancient and classical world to modern times. Special emphasis will be placed on the themes and events of history as they impacted the regions of study. Students will acquire and demonstrate skills of economics, politics, history, geography, and human development.